Thursday, July 12, 2012

Human Hamster Wheel Run.

In my homeschool week...

I usually homeschool 6 weeks on 1 week off year round but just going a little lighter in summer. This year I have been doing a lot less schooling than I usually do I feel somewhat guilty about it but I just keep telling myself that my kids are ahead of where they should be, so going a bit lighter this year is okay. Especially since the 6 month trip to Argentina in November got cancelled so now I feel like we don't have to cram in a ton of info over the summer. I knew that if we went to Argentina we wouldn't get as much schooling done as I would here because we would be out exploring. So we are a bit more relaxed this summer.

What we are reading this week...

Robin is still reading through the Magic Tree house Series and is up to book #9 Dolphins at Daybreak.

Falcon just started reading The The Bridge to Teribithia

I am still reading Fifty Shades Darker.

We did a science experiments to see if ants prefer butter or margarine. I saw this post on facebook and wanted to try it myself and see if it was true.

Margarine on left organic butter on right.

Well it's not totally true our ants seemed to eat the margarine but defiantly preferred the butter. Look how all the ants are lined up next to each other to eat the butter. They are not doing this on the margarine. Wonder if they would prefer un processed cane sugar or refined white sugar, we may try that next week.

Our ants ate the butter and the margarine but they seemed to prefer the butter. They were attracted to the margarine at first but they moved to the butter. I like the message of the blog post saying that ants wont eat foods that are not real but it is just not true. How many times have you seen ants swarm a McDonald's french fry? I don't even know if its even a real potato after they put all those chemicals and preservatives in it.

Fun Places we went this week..

The zoo

We haven't been there much since main stream schools have been out because I don't like crowds but Duck has been asking me to go everyday for weeks. There was NOWAY I was going to go in 100 degree weather so went this week when it was only 83 degrees. I had a lot of fun with the kids and I decided that I am ditching my double stroller from now on. Duck (4) and Owl ( almost 3) weigh 70 lbs together plus the stroller weighs 30 lbs so a combined weight of 100 lbs that I am pushing around is not fun trying to get through crowds. So from now on they are walking and if they get tired we can go home (the joy of having a zoo membership).

The Science Museum

Robin trying out the human hamster wheel

The chair Falcon made. He was so proud of his work, it took him 90 minutes to construct.

Duck's brain just works differently than my others kids, he is going to force me to re invent the wheel trying to teach him this year. The project was to make a food person out of healthy foods from all 5 foods groups (you can see Robin's finished project in orange to the left). Duck didn't want to make a food person he wanted to take all the caps off the glue sticks and sort them putting the caps back on the tray and the glue sticks to the right! Still learning I know!

Duck started throwing up in the van so I handed him a cup to throw up in it and after it was nice and full he decided to throw it! So much for trying to contain the mess. Finger crossed that our nest has not come down with a belly bug and that it was just a fluke incident. I won't gross you out with a picture of that mess!

In my life this week...

I have decided to start my photography business back up. 7 years ago I had just started it but then lost my studio due to our main business expanding into that space and being pregnant at the time so I just stopped. After I took my friend's pictures a few weeks back I realized how much I missed it. So I am hoping to get some more pictures done soon so I can get a portfolio put together and website. When driving home from the zoo this week I came across some neat graffiti that is relatively new and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to photograph it with people in front of it.

Here are a few shots I took while driving down the road. They are not great but you get the idea I am hoping to get some great shots of it next week. I have a very specific idea on what people I want in the picture and what I want them to wear.

I was looking for a quote to add to this weekls blog entry and came across this great one

Which then lead me to this blog post written by a complete stranger but whose words seemed to reach me in a very important way.

Baby Birds In My Nest

Falcon - age 16 Sophomore in CollegeHe attends a local University and is majoring in Communication. Now a Korean certified black belt in Taekwondo. He likes playing video games like all boys and has fun playing with paper money on the stock market.

Robin - age 11 grade (6)This was the first bird she was able to identify at 2.5 yrs old. She loves worms just as much as the robin. She has a fantastic memory and is very sweet and caring. She loves horses and takes English riding lessons. She is obsessed with Sea turtles and all things ocean right now.

Duck-age 9 grade (3)My most difficult bird, he keeps me on my toes. He has a very Jekyll/ Hyde personality.Stole his sisters stuffed duck as soon as he could crawl and adopted it his. Loves polar bears more than any other animal.

Owl- age 7 grade( 3)My silent observer. He loves to cuddle and be right next to Mama bird at all times he learns very quickly and is super cuddly. Loves nature and is always picking up animals and bugs.He is the family hugger!

Canary - Age 3

Loves music and dancing and is enjoying life so much now that she can walk and talk.